I didn't quite follow today's prompt, not exactly. The prompt was to write about creating a better world for children, reflecting on the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satiarthi. We may want better for our children, but too often we end up repeating what we went through. Sometimes I think that part of the reason I never had kids was to spare myself from having to send them off to what I remember as twelve years of dullness and torture. School buses still make me shudder sometimes.
SCHOOL
Silence awkward questions
Crush quickening creativity
Heckle and shame
Obliterate individuality
Obfuscate intuition
Lock into place
I had children - but we never sent them to school. They've learned joyfully and rampantly, on their own terms, and I'm delighted to have been a part of it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your poem greatly, and it does a lot to remind me why we've chosen this way of life. Thanks you for that!
Thanks! Good for you for doing better by your kids! I know many other parents who have done the same. I have hope that you all may succeed in raising a better generation.
DeleteThank God we could move on to other forms of schooling huh? This gave me angst I havent felt since K-8... well written!
ReplyDeleteCollege saved my faith in learning! I loved it, and somehow haven't given up hope that we can reform education in this country. We need it badly.
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